The Most Underrated Mecha Anime You Need to Watch

gamerant.com:

For as much as science fiction can push the boundaries of what is thought possible and probable, there is an appreciable commitment in classic sci-fi to make these futures feel particularly tangible. The ways this is achieved are varied, but for Mamoru Oshii, it was about reminding audiences that these sci-fi futures can be just as boring as real life.

Mobile Police Patlabor is an anime franchise that began as an OVA in the late 80s before spawning a TV series and several film sequels. It tells of a future where mecha are commonplace, but adopted within the civilian sector for construction as «Labors», leading to instances of «Labor crime» and hence police units that utilize Labors. Calling the world boring sounds harsh, but it isn't meant to detract from this series' and merely to give context to its storytelling and its brand of humor. So much of science fiction is about creating futures with technology and going «look how awesome this is!» But Patlabor's world doesn't inspire the same wanderlust, mostly by design.

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The entire appeal of Patlabor stems from how it is a mech series entirely about why the invention of mecha wouldn't suddenly make the world crazy cool and amazing. In fact, it would just be another technology assimilated into the very complex world we live in now. And this is now more evident than in the first episode of the OVA.

Isao Ohta, one of the members of the unit and an unprofessional trigger-happy buffoon, makes a request to have some firing practice with the giant revolvers used by the Labors. But Gotou, the captain, explains in excruciating detail why they can't. For one thing, they don't even have enough Labors for the unit at the beginning.

Even if they did, guns